


Burning Rubber: Streetside Up

by Bedlamwolf



Series: Burning Rubber [3]
Category: NCIS, One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-02-21 05:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2456696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bedlamwolf/pseuds/Bedlamwolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A continuation of the Omake side stories found in Burning Rubber. Streetside Up takes place in New York City. Companion piece Shipside Down takes place on Moby Dick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Not So Dead

**_STREETSIDE UP_ **

**ACE POV**

"Luffy!" Akainu was going to kill his brother.

Ace could see it happening in his mind's eye, and he knew it was his fault. His stupid, hot-headed, selfish fault. He'd known Luffy was at his limit. Felt the tremble caused by fatigue- and who knew what else- earlier. Seen him collapse not that long ago. And yet he'd put his pride before his little brother. Again. He knew Whitebeard would have wanted him to keep running and ignore the insults to the man he called Oyaji. He just had to be a prideful fool hough… and now Luffy was going to pay the price for it. Ace's heart had frozen in his chest when Sakazuki had side-stepped him completely and he's realized who the real target was. He'd hoped in that instant that Luffy would be smart enough to run as he turned. To see his body crumpled on the ground, a look of hazy shock telling him his brother couldn't get out of the way at all was the worst thing ever. He knew he was going to watch his brother die right then and something inside him snapped. Ace had never moved so fast in his life. Still, it wasn't enough. He didn't have time to redirect the blow, or even block it for that matter. All he could do was pray that in taking the blow it would slow the man down enough to spare his brother. His precious baby brother who looked up to him and loved him unconditionally. He was a horrible big brother. Ace refused to close his eyes as he appeared in front of Luffy braced for the blow, back to his own doom. Was it really so selfish that he wanted his brother to be the last thing he saw? Marco would probably say something about his brother-complex if this wasn't going to kill him. Ace couldn't stop his back from tensing, waiting for the killing blow as he gazed down at Luffy. Part of him was annoyed that the boy has closed his eyes. How many times had he told him to never close your eyes when someone was attacking you? Still, it was better if he didn't see this. How he wished he could spare Luffy the pain and the blow…

"...and so then Marco said he would meet us at the bar so A-" The voice cut off before nervously chuckling, "Oh… hey, Ace! I uh, didn't hear you come in."

Luffy opened his eyes and stared up at him, obviously as confused as he was by the sudden silence that had been interrupted by the person talking. Ace knew that voice, but he refused to look up. It was a voice he knew he'd never hear again, so there was no way that person was there.

"What the hell are you two doing? Interpretive Dance?" A different voice asked, exasperation clear in the tone. It was vaguely familiar. "Honestly Ace, I expect stupid shut from Luffy, because well. Luffy. But you should know better."

"Now Sabo, give the guy a break. Maybe the stress of dealing with the knucklehead finally got to him." Sabo? There was no way that was right. He couldn't be there. Neither could Thatch for that matter. They were dead and gone and there was no way they could be talking to him.

Afraid of what he'd see, he raised his head slightly. They were there, standing in a doorway and when had he gotten inside? Where were they?! just watching him with slightly bemused expressions. "S-Sabo?" His heart lurched. It had to be his brother even if he was ten years older than Ace remembered him. The young man still held himself the same way, the same stupid hat on his head. "Thatch?"

"Ace?" Thatch replied in the same tone before grinning. "What the hell man. You look like you've seen a ghost."

"You're dead."

The dead pirate looked hurt. "Hey! What'd I do?"

"No, you're dead." Ace clarified, "I saw you. Teach… Teach killed you."

Sabo's whole frame tensed even as he rolled his eyes. "I think he might be high."

Ace ignored the comment, still staring at the two in shock. He'd never seen Sabo's body, true. But he'd seen Thatch's body, cold and lifeless on the deck in a pool of his own blood. He remembered the feel of it, every detail standing out sharply even now. His friends, his brothers, were dead yet standing before him. He was in a new location, the battle he'd just been in missing. It all spelled out one thing to the pirate. He too was dead. That he had expected. Ace had known Sakazuki's attack was going to kill him. It was still strange that he had felt nothing, but not impossible. He glanced down at Luffy who's attention was still fixated on Ace and not the people behind him and he fought back tears. Sabou was dead, Thatch was dead, he was pretty sure he was dead… if Luffy was here as well he'd failed. Even in death he'd failed his little brother.

"A-Ace?" The teen almost whimpered. "I feel funny." He could understand that. Luffy looked horribly beat up on top of being dead. He actually looked worse than Ace, and he'd been imprisoned for months by pirate hating marines. Being dead definitely feel like he thought it would, either. He felt… normal. Hell, his cuts still stung, so he could only imagine how Luffy felt.

Sabo frowned, coming over. He knelt next to Luffy, a look of worry on his face. "What the hell did you two get into? No offence Lu, but you look like shit warmed over."

"Nah. Cold shit." Thatch added, eyeing Ace.

"There was a war-"

"Crap, there's a gang war out there?!" Thatch reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Gang…? THe marines, and Oyaji… Garp, he-"

"Your Gramps is here already? That guy is such a loose cannon." THatch tisked, "He knows he's not supposed to start anything with Whitebeard."

Ace was getting annoyed at the constant interruptions and prodding hand. He shot his friend a dirty look, opening his mouth.

"Thatch…" Sabo spoke before Ace could, "These aren't my brothers." The young man shot Ace a glare, eyes focusing on his tattoo.

"What the hell! Sabo, you know me!" Ace snapped.

"You're right. I do know Ace." Sabo stood, glaring at him, "And Ace doesn't have an 'S' in his tattoo." He roughly grabbed his shoulder and practically turned him around, "Or a tat' on his back. Ace would never put someone else's mark on him."

Ace had to admit that as as a child he would never have considered it. So in a way Sabo was right. Thatch though, Thatch would know about the tattoo on his back. "It's me! Thatch, tell him, please. You remember when I got this tattoo…"

"Watch them while I call Ace and Luffy. And maybe Marco. Something's not right here." Thatch gave him a look while he pulled a strange device pit of his pocket, "I don't know who you are but you picked the wrong person to impersonate. You'd better pray those two are alright, or I am going to more then beat you for pretending to be in Pop's gang."

"Wha- Thatch! It's me!"

"Whoa! Who's the new gang member?" A cheerful voice interrupted the staring contest followed by strange music.

"Gesh, Thatch. We're only a couple of minutes late. No reason to call." Ace heard his own voice gripe. He hadn't spoken though. "Luffy forgot to lock the door again. We had to go back."

"Guys! You're alright!" Thatch seemed relieved as he walked towards the people standing behind Ace.

Hesitantly he turned to see his friend greet a guy that had his face and a kind that looked just like Luffy. Except, these two were dressed differently, very differently. Hell, his double had a shirt on! Ace hadn't worn a shirt in over a year. Dark grey eyes met. "Who the hell are you?" Ace snarled.

"Ace. You?" His reply was in the same tone.

I'm Ace, Portgas D. Ace."

"Wow, Ace! He even knows your mom's last name!" The Luffy lookalike grinned.

"She's technically your mom, too, idiot." Fake Ace replied, a strange look crossing his face as he looked down at Luffy who was still huddled by his legs. "Well, he can't be Bonn Clay. There's two of them."


	2. Old and New Faces

_**STREETSIDE UP** _

**Sabo POV**

Sabo stood guard over the two interlopers while Thatch got on the phone trying to figure out who was best equipped to deal with them. At least he told himself he was guarding them, in all honestly it didn't look like they could do much except sit in the fold up chairs they'd dug out, beaten up as they were. The Ace-double looked to be in marginally better shape than the other one, but he wasn't so sure about that. Not with the way the man was shivering. Though, it could just be the oddness of seeing someone with Ace's face shiver. Ace  _never_ shivered, but of course he was made of fire. There was no way this guy had the same ability, even if he was a Devil-fruit user. It was a scientific impossibility. Then again, the guy really didn't look good at all, so it was unlikely any power he may-or-may-not have would be very useful at the moment.

The false Luffy was in even worse shape. The teen was still sitting on the floor with this very disturbing blank look in his eyes. Sabo shuddered, ignoring the animosity pouring off his brothers as he turned to Thatch, "Better see about getting them in to see a doctor."

"Yeah, that's why Izo's bringing the van, so we can all get to Kureaha's." The one who looked like Luffy jumped slightly, looking surprised as he repeated the name. Sabo wondered if he knew her somehow. Not that it would be too unusual, the woman sure got around.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Ace piped up from where he knelt, glowering at his double. "She's kind of protective over Lu especially….Crazy bat might just kill them, you know?"

Thatch hummed, "He's got a point." The man turned his attention back to his phone, "Uh, Marco...any chance Juzo's in town this week?...No?...Well, Ace just reminded me how cranky the old broad can be, and honestly I don't want them to end up dead before I get to interrogate them." Pressing the phone to his chest, Thatch made a face as he looked at the three brothers, "If that's the case, we're stuck with Law."

"Cool! I thought he was visiting Abby this week!" Luffy cheered, naturally being the only one who was even remotely excited about seeing the sadistic doctor with his freaky Devil-fruit powers.

"No, not cool. He's a creep."

"I don't know, Ace. We might need creep." Sabo admitted, "He can heal them up with the added bonus of taking their legs too. Wouldn't matter if they are users or not then, yeah? Hard to get anywhere without legs."

"HEY! Quit talking about us like we're not here, asshole." The one who looked like Ace growled. Sabo was pretty sure it was supposed to be menacing, but the fact that he looked like shit kind of killed the effect.

Thatch took the opportunity to smack the man on the back of the head, not bothering to get off the phone. "Yeah, no. That was the other guy. Creepy how much they sound alike, huh? Ok, see you in a few."

"So, what if they're like, clones or something?"

"Luffy, don't be ridiculous, they can't be clones."

"But I always wanted to be a twin!"

"A clone is not a twin," Ace sighed, "And what the hell? I wasn't good enough of a brother for you? What about Sabo?"

"No, you guys are awesome! The best! It's just…." Luffy grinned, wiggling his eyebrows, " _Twins_! Think of all the classes I could skip."

"You're ignoring us again! Stop doing that!" Sabo was just going to call him Spade. Spade glared at them before turning his attention to his friend. "Do what you want to me. Just leave my little brother out of it."

The blond sighed, "We're not going to do anything to you-"

"Yet."

He ignored his brothers' interruption, "other than get you to a doctor. You guys look like shit, and call me a fool, but it's hard to look at people wearing my brother's faces looking like that. It makes me want to go break something."

"Save it for when we have answers," Thatch suggested, pointing towards the door, "our ride should be here soon."

The time passed slowly, with everyone in the building tense. It was worse than a family dinner with his parents, if he had to be honest. Though he'd only met Izo once before, the man was instantly recognizable when he walked in in a knee length skirt and baby-doll tee that proclaimed his love for My Little Ponies. Izo was weird, that was for sure, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he liked women's clothing. From what Sabo had been able to find out the man had a part time job at a salon where he was much in demand for his way with hair (He had to admit the man had gorgeous hair) and was at the same time one of the higher members of Whitebeard's group. He was apparently a crack-shot, and one of the strategists that had helped bring down Blackbeard's group. It was hard to think of the man as dangerous though when he kept running hands through your hair and telling you you'd look marvelous with a little eyeshadow.

It didn't look like Izo was going to be commenting on anyone's lack of fashion today, though. Not with the way he leveled a glare at the two imposters. "They look like shit, Thatch. What did you do, work them over before I got here?"

"I-izo? Is that you?" 'Spade' asked, an expression of shock on his face. "What are you  _wearing?_ "

"Do I know you, punk?"

"It's me! Ace!"

Izo snorted and rolled his eyes before looking at Ace. "As you can see, we already have an Ace." He stalked over to the two of them and roughly turned their heads. "They certainly do  _look_  like our boys. I don't like it." Izo pulled out two sets of handcuffs, "I don't know who you are or why you're here, but you're not going anywhere until you put these on."

Both the imposters smirked, though the Luffy-look-alike's smirk looked a little wain. Those looks were wiped off their face the moment Izo snapped the cuffs on them. "What the hell?!"

"Coral lined handcuffs." Izo gave them a dark look of his own, "Since you noticed, it's obvious that you have taken Devil-fruit. And seeing that you haven't changed physically I'm placing my bet on plastic surgery."

"Of course we have devil fruit abilities, you asshole! And what the hell is this plastic surgery thing you're talking about?!"

Thatch cuffed 'Spade' on the head again to shut him up, "Get moving. We got an appointment to keep, and trust me, you don't wanna keep Law waiting."

"Heaven forbid we keep that psycho waiting…." Ace grumbled as he and Luffy fell into step flanking the interlopers.

Luffy grinned, "I like Law, he's fun."

"That's because you have no sense of danger, little brother." Sabo chuckled as he held the door the the van open, "Get in. If nothing else, Law will patch you right up."

"Wha-what is it?"

"It's a car, kiddo. Haven't you ever seen one before?"

"Um. No?" Dark brown eyes blinked up at Sabo innocently, reminding him way too much of his brother, "What's it do?"

"Get in and you'll see."


	3. Strap In and Hold On

_**STREETSIDE UP** _

**ACE**

Izo's arm shot out, stopping anyone from entering the van as he fixed them with a look. Ace had to admit that the man could  _glare_ like Izo. "Don't even think about bleeding on the seats. If I spot so much as one drop, I will turn you into Swiss cheese." Grey eyes narrowed dangerously, "do I make myself clear?"

"Hey, uh, Izzy, in case you haven't noticed they're kind of beat to hell. How are they  _not_ supposed to bleed?" His double asked with a sardonic smile, hands up placatingly.

"I don't know or care  _HOW,_ Ace. Just so long as it doesn't happen. I just go the thing detailed the other day, and I know you're not going to pay to get it done again, you cheap bastard. I use this for work!" He glared again at Ace, eyeing the cuts on his body, "Focus on drawing the blood back in or something."

"Or sit on these towels." The fake Thatch suggested, putting them down. "Alright, Sabo and Ace, you're in the way back, Luffy you sit in front of these jokers. I'll get shotgun."

"But I wanna sit with them!"

"NO!" Chorused the false Ace and Sabo, looking panicked. Ace wasn't sure if he should feel proud of that or insulted. On the one hand, they were right to fear him - he was a notorious pirate. On the other, it wasn't like he or Luffy were up to really  _doing_  anything right now.

"Why not? They can't do anything but bleed on me." The teen asked pointing that very fact out. He narrowed his eyes at the joker.

"Fine, just get in." Izo snapped, cutting off the argument.

Ace watched as his double climbed into the back, grumbling the whole time while the man who looked like Sabo laughed at him. A not-so gentle nudge had him glaring at the wanna be Thatch before climbing into the strange thing. A task made harder with his hands bound. He had expected Luffy to follow him, and he did... Just the wrong one. The imposter stretched over him, pulling down some kind of strap and snapping it in across his lap, locking him place. He glared into the smiling face.

"There, now you won't fall or anything." The fake grinned before turning his attention to Luffy and helping his brother into the narrow seat. Luffy wasn't looking so good, and Ace was getting worried about him. "You look like shit."

"Wow, way to be blunt, brother."

Black hair smacked him in the face as the teen turned to whine at the blond in the back, "What? He does!"

"You're still not supposed to just tell someone that, Lu." The blond sighed before turning his attention back to Ace with a guarded smile, "Law'll patch you guys right up. And if you're lucky he won't even take a kidney as payment."

"Pops is paying for it." Izo put in from the front.

Ace couldn't stop himself from asking, "Pops? Oyaji?"

Grey eyes so light they were almost silver met his in the small reflective mirror in the front, "Yes,  _Pops_ , as in Whitebeard. Who is  _not_  amused by this little stunt of yours. He considers both Ace and Luffy under his protection, and he takes that  _very VERY_ seriously. You're lucky it's obvious that your injuries are not faked in any way."

"If they were?" He questioned, looking over the humming teen to where his brother sat, eyes slightly glazed and breathing shallowly.

"We wouldn't be taking you to see Law. You'd be going to see Fossa instead."

Thatch whistled, "Harsh. Fossa'd leave them in worse shape then they are now, Izo."

"But he'd get answers. And that's the point."

"I say we just give them to the Red-Hair Family and be done with it." Thatch wrapped his hands over the back of the seat.

Luffy blinked, a bit of life coming to life for the first time since getting into the moving vehical. "You mean Shanks?" He clutched the hat.

"Yeah, Shanks! You know him?" He could see the grin the teen next to him gave. "Shanks is really cool! He's one of the mob leaders in the city...though I guess he does stuff outside the city too. Anyway, he's looked out for us for  _years_ , right Ace?"

An arm came around back, draping over the teen's shoulder while a head rested on the other shoulder closest to Ace. This close he could see every freckle. It was like looking in a mirror, and he was fasinated and more than a little creeped out. "You could say that. Now hush, idiot."

Before the teen could speek again Izo spoke from the front, "Ace is right, you don't know if we can trust them, Luffy."

Grey eyes cut to the side, catching Ace staring. He refused to look away like the guilty party. The man was in his space after all! "Wouldn't want to give information to enemies." His double said, something dark lurking behind his eyes. It reminded him of his eyes before he'd met Luffy; before joining Oyaji. In a blink the look was gone and he wondered if he'd ever seen it as this other him tilted his head to blow onto the back of  _his_  little brother's ear.

"AACCEE!" The teen flailed, slapping wildly, "Stop it!"

"Jesus!" Izo cursed, "DO NOT make me stop this car, Ace! So help you, if I have to stop, I will  _shoot_  you."

"Hope I'm not behind him…."

"Shut up, Sabo, or I'll shoot you too."

Thatch tried to cut in, "Izo-"

"Don't think I don't know that you were in on it. The three of you…"

"Izo…"

"Not now Thatch! Can't you see I'm lecturing! Honestly, you'd think you three were in…"

"IZO!" Thatch shouted.

"Thrid grade.  _WHAT_ Thatch?"

"We're here."

There was a loud screach and the whole vehical jerked and shuddered as it veered sharply to the right. Shouting could be heard outside, but Izo ignored it. Ace was suddenly glad he had been strapped in. He clutched desperately at the seat, knuckles white as the thing from hell  _finally_  came to a stop. He couldn't believe that the lunatic who had been driving was supposed to be  _Izo_ , but he could easily believe that  _Thatch_  was calm about the whole thing. The shocking part was that his brother's double was laughing like it had been some kind of amusement park ride or something. Even the fake-him and Sabo hardly seemed phased. If this was it was like being dead, he must be in hell.

His double eyed him as the man helped him out of the car before breaking out into a wide grin. " _Now_  you look like shit." He slapped him on the shoulder, "Don't worry, Izo's driving will do that to you. After that, anything that Law does to you will seem like a cake-walk. Assuming you're not some government spy or something."


End file.
